Top News Stories For Today – Nov 1, 2017

New York terror attack

Eight people are dead and almost a dozen wounded after a man drove a truck onto a bike path Tuesday in Lower Manhattan. The attack is the deadliest in New York City since 9/11, and details about the accused attacker and the heroes who stopped him are still coming out.

Authorities say the suspect is Sayfullo Saipov, 29, a native of Uzbekistan who moved to the United States in 2010 and most recently lived in New Jersey. According to police, a note left near the truck used in the attack says it was done in the name of ISIS, although the terror group has not publicly claimed responsibility. We also know that 28-year-old New York police Officer Ryan Nash shot and apprehended the suspect as he tried to flee, effectively ending the deadly rampage. The suspect was rushed to the hospital, and officers were able to talk to him before he went in for surgery Tuesday. CNN

Iraq criminalizes display of Zionist symbols

Israeli flags were appearing frequently during Kurdish rallies in the run up to the Kurdish referendum vote that was held Sept. 25, with 92 percent voting in favor of secession from the central government in Baghdad. Following the display of the Israeli flag in pro-independence Kurdish rallies, the Iraqi parliament, known as the Council of Representatives, voted Tuesday to ban the Israeli flag, describing it as a Zionist symbol.

The law was introduced by the parliamentary bloc of the Shiite Supreme Islamic Council and was unanimously approved by other members of the Iraqi parliament. It ordered law enforcement to pursue criminal charges against “those who promote Zionist symbols in public rallies in any form, including the hoisting of the Zionist flag.” VOA

Mueller’s team worried Manafort would flee or ruin evidence

Court documents unsealed on Tuesday reveal that Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, registered a phone and email address earlier this year under a false name and had three United States passports with different numbers.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team believed Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, were flight risks and likely to destroy evidence once they found out criminal charges had been filed, and on Oct. 27, prosecutors requested the indictment against them be sealed until at least one was in custody. The pair, who self-surrendered on Monday, have been indicted on 12 counts, including charges of money laundering and making false statements to the Justice Department. BuzzFeed News, The Week

House Republicans postpone rollout of tax bill

House Republicans have postponed the release of their tax bill, a congressional aide told The New York Times Tuesday. Instead of coming out on Wednesday, the bill will be unveiled Thursday. Over the past several weeks, House Republicans have been holding closed-door meetings, attempting to fill in the tax framework President Trump released in September.

Speaking to conservative groups on Tuesday afternoon, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced the draft bill would immediately cut the top corporate tax rate to 20 percent and would phase in full repeal of the estate tax over several years, a meeting attendee told the Times. Much of the bill remains a mystery, including if the top income tax rate will go up or down and how it will affect tax-free retirement savings. The New York Times, The Week

Tech companies and Russian meddling

Silicon Valley is feeling the heat from Washington this week. Executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google testified Tuesday before Congress in the first of three hearings into how foreign nationals used social media to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election.

At the hearing, held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, lawmakers pressed the tech companies on their ability to prevent bad actors from taking advantage of their platforms through ads and regular posts. Some, such as Facebook, were questioned as to how, with such sophisticated technology, they couldn’t smell something amiss when massive ad payments showed up from Russian sources. CNN